Living Wisely Living Well | With Asha Nayaswami

Whatever you seek to accomplish, approach it with enthusiasm. Once you’ve finished it, however, release it into the infinite. If you keep dwelling on past accomplishments, you won’t be able to concentrate freely on new ones. I myself find it difficult, sometimes, to remember the names of songs I have written, though I love them all. They’re done now, and belong in the past. I have new, fresh images to carve, paint, or otherwise convey.

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Give credit to others for anything you and they have accomplished together. Indeed, give more credit to them than you claim for yourself. I remember my father commenting wryly on the foreword written to a book by the writer’s subordinate: “I recommend this book, which was written at my direction and under my constant supervision.” What had that old fogey gained, except a few chuckles of derision? If a team helps you, presumably it is because you’ve needed their help. And if you did need it, thank them by giving them even more credit, perhaps, than they deserve.

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No calamity will shake you if you can stand calmly and firmly at your own center. “Be able,” as my Guru said, “to stand unshaken amid the crash of breaking worlds!” If you offer your heart’s feelings up in devotion to God, fear will pass overhead like a cloud, and you will be enveloped in bliss.

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Face every trial cheerfully. Don’t shrink from it, but thrust your chest out and accept the test bravely. Remember, you cannot avoid trouble anyway. Trials are like dogs: If they threaten you, confront them with courage and they’ll run away! But if you yourself run away, they’ll give eager chase.

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Seek approval only from people whose opinions you respect. The applause of multitudes is like bubbles in a champagne glass, rising, then bursting at the surface. Better the scolding of the wise than the adulation of fools. Popularity is the surest sign of individual inadequacy.

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Offer up all suffering to God. People speak of Christ’s suffering on the cross. They don’t realize that, in his absolute conquest over ego, he was happy to offer his life as a sacrifice for others. He thereby took onto himself their karma. He himself, however, was immune to pain of all kinds. The suffering he felt was for man’s indifference to God.

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Live as much as possible at the midpoint between all opposites: That is where the Infinite Spirit dwells. Everything in Creation is dual. Thus did the One become many. Every “up” is canceled by a “down”; light is balanced by darkness; pleasure, by pain; emotional love, by hatred (I say “emotional love,” because there is no opposite to divine love, and no balancing opposite to divine joy). Eternal truths lie at the point midway between all opposites. Therefore I say, live more at your center, in the heart.

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Another way to handle pain and sorrow is to tell yourself, “What is happening now is only flotsam on the river of time.” What you feel now won’t last. Dwell on the thought of eternal bliss, which will be yours once you attain inner freedom.

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One way to handle pain and sorrow is to visualize your consciousness expanding in all directions. If, for instance, you are in a dentist’s chair, say to yourself, “What happens to this body can touch only a tiny point in the vast reality of my true Self.”

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Today, tell yourself, “I’m going to see life in a new way! When I look at a tree, I will ask myself, ‘What message has it for me, from God?’ If the trunk is straight, I’ll think, ‘That is how I shall keep my spine: firmly upright.’ If the tree is many-branched, I’ll ask myself, ‘In what new directions of thought and action can I branch out today?’ If the leaves are luxurious, I’ll think, ‘Let my own life flourish similarly!’ And if the tree is bare, let me think (negatively perhaps, at first) ‘I don’t want my life to be barren!’ but then positively: ‘I, too, must withdraw sometimes from outer involvement, to return with renewed vigor in confronting life’s challenges.’” Everything around you can teach and inspire you, if you animate your gaze with a questing mind.

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